If I belong to a tradition, it is a tradition that makes the masterpiece tell the performer what to do, and not the performer telling the piece what it should be like, or the composer what he ought to have composed.

Since the 1970s Brendel has recorded for Philips Classics Records. He called it "The Fugue In Piano Literature" and as well as fugal works by Johann Sebastian Bach Johannes Brahms and Franz Liszt it included some of Brendel's own compositions. Brendel gave his first public recital in Graz at the age of 17.